Daisuke grew interested in the crystals on the wall for Kaori's sake. With reckless abandon he ran over and climbed the rock wall of the tightly packed cavern to reach out with a grin, thinking he'd impress Kaori.
"Hold—no one touches—" Meld barked, but Daisuke was already scrambling.
Kouki, trying to make it sound like he'd already assessed it, called, "Good initiative! They're probably restorative, right?" He flashed Kaori a reassured smile, as if the confidence alone made it true.
A knight shouted, "It's a—"
Daisuke's fingers brushed crystal. Blue light detonated from every seam; the world inhaled and spit them out onto a narrow bridge swaying over fog and abyss.
Selena's sword was already out. A colossal summoning circle bloomed at midspan; a constellation of smaller ones flickered alive, disgorging Traüm soldiers. Hajime slammed his palm to stone—the bridge buckled into berms; Selena's blade whispered, heads toppled. Defend and decapitate, defend and decapitate—just enough to keep their classmates breathing while kingdom knights made walls out of bruised bodies.
Hajime still saved Yuka from a cleaving strike—just like Selena remembered—even with the two of them fighting far more aggressively this time.
"We need Amanogawa over here! We can barely keep this pace!" Hajime barked, tossing back a few mana pills.
"Okay, let's go drag our clueless leader," Selena snapped—then frowned. Kouki's pride is going to get someone killed…
They hacked through the undead toward Kouki, who stood with Captain Meld, stalling the Behemoth—a mountain of horned fury—away from the students.
"Kouki, we need your help over here!" Selena called.
Kouki glanced back, then put on his hero-voice. "I'm staying to help Meld-san with the Behemoth. This is what heroes do—big monsters, big swords. You two can stay back an—"
SLAP.
"Honestly, you can be a piece of shit sometimes, Kouki."
Everyone froze. Did Selena just curse? flickered across a dozen faces.
Hajime recovered first. "Our classmates are barely hanging on with the knights and us. You're the only one who can blast a lane to the stairs so we can get them out!"
Kouki opened his mouth, pride bristling—then Meld's gravel cut through.
"Amanogawa. Help them."
"R-right. Sorry, Meld-san—"
Too late. The hollow ground the knights had cast spider-webbed; a shockwave ripped outward. Hajime raised a wall; it shredded and flung them. Dust, grit, ringing ears. The Behemoth roared, blowing the haze clear.
Kouki forced himself upright, forcing certainty into his tone like armor. "Ryutarou, Shizuku—buy time! Kaori, heal the knights!"
Ryutarou slammed his gauntlets together. "Not like we've got a damn choice."
Shizuku's jaw set. "…We'll manage somehow."
They surged. Kouki drew a breath, let the ritual words prop him up the way they always had in practice halls that didn't fight back.
"O Holy spirit! Bring ruin to all that is evil with thine divine light! By the breath of God, may these clouds of darkness be swept clear, and the world bathed in sanctity! By the mercy of God, may this strike redeem the sins of man! Divine Wrath!"
White sanctity poured over the Behemoth. Kouki staggered with the exhale, already projecting the aftermath. "That should—uh—do it. It's divine light—monsters can't endure—"
"Dude," Ryutarou panted, flat, "you just jinxed us."
The glow fell away. The Behemoth stood unmarked, angrier—red mana boiling off it. Its horns thrummed, turned cherry-hot, the heat bleeding over its helm until its whole head looked like poured magma.
"Don't just stand there! Run!" Meld snapped.
The Behemoth launched like a meteor. Shockwave. Stone cried. Kouki tumbled, brain skidding between this isn't how it goes and stand up. Heroes weren't supposed to feel this small.
"Hajime!" Selena's voice was a clean cut in the chaos. "If I bait the charge, can you trap it?"
"Yeah—y-yeah!" He swallowed a pill, sprinting to warn Meld while Selena grabbed three barely-standing knights.
Selena hurled her longsword like a javelin; the Behemoth turned, incandescent with fury. She feinted, shockwave blasting her to the brink. Hajime hit the ground—stone swallowed the monster's head and knees; he rebuilt as it thrashed. Selena staggered back, drank a small potion, blood at her lip but smiling anyway.
"Go back to the class. I'll catch up," Hajime said, voice shaking from standing this close to doom.
"Nah. What kind of friend thinks only of herself?" She braced his shoulder.
Meld rallied a corridor through the Traüm. "They're the reason you're still alive! Vanguard, advance! Rearguard, prep long-range! Once they're clear, keep that thing busy!—Kids, run to us!"
Selena slung Hajime over her shoulder and sprinted.
"This is so embarrassing!" he yelped, clinging to her shirt.
The Behemoth wrenched free, lowered its head—then a rearguard barrage hammered it. Kouki, breathless and eager to reassert the story, pointed back with a strained grin, "See? Teamwork! Our mages won't miss!"
We can make it, Hajime thought as Selena pounded across the stones. These cheat-level classmates won't miss—
A second volley arced out—clean trajectories, tight angles… except one. Selena's eyes snapped up; in that sliver of time, she alone tracked the off-angle sphere back to a caster on the fringe. Daisuke's lips twitched into a victorious little grin—gone in the smoke and recoil. Everyone else was fixed on the Behemoth and their own casting lines. No one saw what she saw.
Selena pivoted mid-stride, snapping backward to keep the stray from slamming into her and Hajime head-on. Kouki, still panting, never noticed; he was already calling, "Great shooting! Keep it up!"
The Behemoth, incandescent with rage, charged again. It hit. The bridge decided it had done enough being a bridge. Cracks raced, slabs fell. As stone gave way under the Behemoth, it also went under Selena and Hajime.
In that heartbeat of freefall, Selena locked eyes with Shizuku and mouthed a clipped message only Shizuku could catch, then wrapped herself around Hajime. He reached up toward his classmates, disbelief carved across his face, then shut his eyes and prayed.
Kaori lunged. Kouki grabbed her from behind, hauling her back with the confidence of a man absolutely sure the world worked the way he'd been told. "It's crossfire—just crossfire—no one would ever target allies," he insisted, voice too bright, as if the shape of the words could make them true.
Meld's hand chopped the back of Kaori's neck; she slumped into Kouki's arms. The captain's voice was raw and steady. "We can't lose anyone else. Two is already too many."
Shizuku seized the moment. "Kouki—front. Just like Hajime and Selena said. We need a leader."
Kouki swallowed, nodded, and turned to the battered students. "Vanguard with me! Shields high! Mages—mind your lines of fire this time—we won't miss again!"
He didn't look into the chasm where stone had been. He filled the silence with orders that sounded like certainty, because certainty was what a hero gave.
Behind him, Shizuku climbed in silence, replaying the instant Selena had looked back—no fear, only calculation. She held her tongue. No one else had noticed the single stray fireball.
No one but Selena.